Anton e



(11o Model.)

A. E. NEWMAN.

SGUTCHING MACHINE.

No. 345,985. Patented July 20, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTON E. NEWMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO LOUIS BEOKHARDT, OF SAME PLACE.

SCUTCHlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 345,985, dated July 20, 1886.

Application filed November 2l, i855. Serial No. 183,557.

To all whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, ANTON E. NEWMAN, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Scutching-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear7 and exact description of the same.

My invention is an improved machine for breaking and removing the ber from berproducing plants-such as nettles and plants of the urtica class, ramie, and the like.

It consists of breaking, rubbing, and combing mechanism combined in one machine, whereby these operations are all performed in one continuous operation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a side elevation of my machine; Fig. 2, a plan View of the same.

The working parts of the machine are supported upon a frame, A, preferably of cast-iron. At the front end of the machine is an endless flexible feed-table, B, mounted upon rollers a b. The roller a is prolonged through its bearing and provided with a grooved pulley,c, which is driven from a pulley, d, on the shaft of one of the breaking-rollers. This causes the upper surface of the table to move toward the rst breaking-rollers. The breaking-rollers are indicated at D D. Of these the rollers D are underneath, and are driven and connected by gearing. The first lower roller has a pair of ordinary fixed and loose drivingpulleys, l and 2, on its shaft prolonged outside of its bearings, and on the same shaft is a cogwheel, 3, which is connected to the cog-wheel 4 of the second lower breaking-roller by an intermediate gear, 5. The rollers D D are all fluted longitudinally. The lower rollers are in fixed bearings, but the upper are in movable bearings e, which are allowed vertical movementin guides, as shown, and are pressed down by springsf. The upper rolls are turned by reason of their contact with the lower ones. Behind these two sets of breaking-rollers are two sets or pairs of crushing or rubbing rollers, (marked G G G G.) Of these rollers the lower have cog-wheels on their shafts with intermediate gears for communicating motion from the last lower fiuted roller, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. The upper crushing-rollers are mounted in movable bearings with springs (No model.)

pressing them down, as in the description of the two preceding rollers. These upper rollers are driven also by frictional contact with the lower ones. Their surfaces are smooth, and preferably formed of porcelain. Behind these rollers are two other pairs of rollers, the lower being marked H H, andthe upper H H', these rollers being driven in the same man! ner as. the rollers 'that precede them. The surface of these are provided with combs such as are ordinarily used for combing fibers.

v Between the pairs of rollers are tables m, which support the stalks of ber and conduct them from one pair of rollers to the next. These tables are simply sheet-metal plates, preferably interposed between the peripheries of the lower rolls, thus preventing the fiber from falling to the ground between the said rollers.

At the rear end of the machine is another endless flexible table, K, mounted on shafts Z m. The shaft m has a grooved pulley, o, driven from another grooved pulley, p, on a shaft of the last roller H. The upper surface of this table moves to the rear.

In operating this machine the plants are laid upon the first table at the front end of the machine with the stalks in line, and are carried endwise to the iiuted rollers, the surface of the table being in a plane with the contactsurfaces of those rollers. The iluted rollers receive the stalks and break them, passing them onto the second set, which subjects them to the same operation, the broken woody parts, which are obtained from the ber being directed in front of the rollers by means of the tables m, as heretofore described. From the breaking-rollers the broken plants pass to the crushing-rollers having the porcelain surfaces, and these crush the remaining woody parts, rubbing off the outside bark by the drag of the upper rollers. From the porcelain rollers thecrushed and rubbed parts pass to the combrollers, by the drag of the upper roller, which comb the fiber and deliver it upon the endless table K, by which it is carried to the rear of the machine and discharged. The plants are delivered to the machine in a moist state as they come from the tank in which they are heated by a process set forth in an application led by me in the United States Patent Office IOO November 14, 1885, No. 182,806, or by any other suitable process, to soften wood bers.

I claim as my invention- 1. In combination with the frame of the machine, a feedtable, fluted rollers in rear of the feed-table, the lower roller being in iXed bearings, and the upper one in movable bearings and provided with springs, smooth rollers placed next in rear of the uted rollers, the lower roller being in Xed bearings, and the upper one in movable bearings, and provided Wit-h springs, and nextin order after this combrollers, the lower one in fixed bearings and the upper one in movable bearings, and provided with springs, the lower rollers of each set being connected by gears, and the sets Ybeing adapted to operate in succession upon the plants, substantially as described.

to this specification in the presence of two sub- 3o scribing Witnesses.

ANTON E. NEWMAN.

Witnesses: f

F. L. MIDDLETON, CHAs. L. STURTEVANT. 

